Lewis a



(No Model.)

L. A. FOUTE. GAR SEAL.

No. 538,192. Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

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' A"TINTTTD STATES MTENT Ormes.

LEWIS A. FOOTE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CHICAGO CAR- SEAL AND `MANUFACTURINGr COMPANY, OF SAME AKPLACE.

CAR-SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 538,192, dated April 23, 1895.

Application iled .Tuly t?, 1894. Serial No. 516,442. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, LEWIS A. FOOTE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago,

in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Seals, of which the following is aspeciiication.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of car-seals involving a sheet-metal socket containing locking means and into which the end, or both ends, of a suitable shackle may be readily inserted and held therein against Withdrawal.

To produce my improvement, I provide a suitable blank of any appropriate kind of sheet metal and fold it into the desired shape for a seal-socket, providing therein the locking means for the shackle.

Referring tothe accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank suitable for producing my improvement. spective view of my improved seal-socket formed from the blank presented in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View of the socket having presented to its open end for insertion therein the shackle-ends shown in Fig. et by a broken sectional View. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the socket with the shackle-ends inserted into it and held therein against withdrawal by spring locking-tongues; and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the shackle. A

A is the blank formed out of tin, brass, or any other suitable sheet-metal, and the shape of which is that illustrated of an approximate Z, affording the oblong rectangular sectionr adapted to be folded upon itself at its center, or between the dotted lines t, and having the nap-extensions r and r2 extending from its opposlte edges and respectively at opposite sides of the center t, which Iiaps are adapted to be folded respectively along the dotted lines t and t2. To form the locking means of the socket preparatory to shaping the latter out of the blank A, I stamp out of the section r Vthe tongues o and o', and preferably two pairs thereof, one pair near each end and near p opposite edges of the section. With the blank Fig. 2 is a per-A thus formed, I bend the section r upon itself in the direction to bring the locking-tongues inside. Then the liap r is bent at t in the direction necessary to cover the adjacent open edge between the folds of the section r and to over-lap one side, as shown in Fig. 2, and the flap r2 is bent at t2 in the contrary direction to cover the adjacent Open edge between the folds of the section r and overlap the other side, as shown in Fig. 2, thereby forming the seal-socket B. The fold at t obviously closes one end of the socket, while the opposite end remains open to admit the ends of the shackle C. When the blank has been thus bent into shape, the free edges may be cemented together, as by soldering. Thus formed, the socket presents the longer member o of each pair of the spring tongues in a backward direction from the shackle-insertion opening in the socket, and the opposing members o in the opposite directions to aiord stops. The openings or eyes o2 in the ends of the shackle C are provided near opposite edges in position, the one to engage one pair of the lockingtongues and the other to engage the other pair of said tongues. Then by inserting one end of the shackle into the socket B, it passes overa tongue o and on slightly withdrawing it the opening o? in that end engages the tongue; whereupon any attempt to disengage it therefrom by forcing it inward causes the end of the shackle to encounter the stoptongue o', which frustrates the attempt. In the same manner the other end of the shackle is locked by inserting it into the socket.

If, as may be, but one pair of the tongues o o are provided in the side of the socket, they should be adequately long to permit the locking of both shackle-ends bythe one tongue o, unless one of said ends be, as it may, permanently fastened, initially, to the socket.

It may be stated that the operations of forming the blank and bending it to produce the socket B are performed by machinery.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A car-seal socket formed of an approximately Z-shaped sheet-metal blank bent upon itself at its section 7 and having the flaps o" of general Z-shape, affording a. section o proand 72 bentrespectively in opposite directions vided with spring-tongues o o and flaps 7" and to cover the open edges between the folds of T2, substantially as described.

said section,and1ocking means in lche socket LEWIS A. FOOTE. 5 for the car-seal shackle, substantially as de- In presence ofsoribed. W. U. WILLIAMS,

2. A sheet-metal blank for a car-seal socket, J. N. HANSON. 

